Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,840,000 shares, a drop of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 3,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Electronic Arts Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Electronic Arts stock opened at $133.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $125.55 and a 200 day moving average of $126.55. Electronic Arts has a fifty-two week low of $108.53 and a fifty-two week high of $140.30.

Electronic Arts Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 29th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 28th. Electronic Arts’s payout ratio is currently 20.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.45, for a total transaction of $134,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,922 shares in the company, valued at $2,812,962.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jacob J. Schatz sold 1,000 shares of Electronic Arts stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.45, for a total transaction of $134,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,922 shares in the company, valued at $2,812,962.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Wilson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,704,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,900 shares of company stock worth $4,207,770. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Electronic Arts

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Electronic Arts by 50.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 145,739 shares of the game software company’s stock worth $19,073,000 after purchasing an additional 49,044 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 43,161 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $5,199,000 after buying an additional 2,930 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,684 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Electronic Arts during the 1st quarter valued at about $908,000. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in shares of Electronic Arts by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 47,029 shares of the game software company’s stock valued at $5,663,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Electronic Arts from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Electronic Arts from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $145.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Electronic Arts in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. They set a “hold” rating and a $128.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Electronic Arts from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.13.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. It develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, racing, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, and license games from others, including FIFA, Madden NFL, UFC, and Star Wars brands.